Where to Begin with Thomas Merton?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ธ.ค. 2024
- In this video, Franciscan friar and Merton scholar Fr. Daniel P. Horan, OFM offers some suggestions for where to begin with Thomas Merton's writings, life, and influence if you are new to Merton and his work. Since Pope Francis held Merton up as one of four key American figures (along with Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abraham Lincoln) people have become very interested in Merton and his writing.
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Links to books mentioned in video:
"Thomas Merton: Essential Writings" www.amazon.com/...
"The Seven Storey Mountain" www.amazon.com/...
"New Seeds of Contemplation" www.amazon.com/...
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander" www.amazon.com/...
"Seeds of Destruction" www.amazon.com/...
"Living with Wisdom" www.amazon.com/...
"Thomas Merton & The Monastic Vision" www.amazon.com/...
"The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton" www.amazon.com/...
I first read Thomas Merton in the Society of Jesus Novitiate in Ungaran, Central Java, Indonesia in 1982. I have been searching for something like this throughout my life. Thank you Daniel, you have been very helpful. Greetings from Indonesia.
I began with No Man Is an Island and was instantly in love. At that point I was just beginning my journey to the Catholic faith, in large part due to Father Louis! A less religious person may do well to start with his collected literary essays, a treasure trove on such a variety of issues and thinkers.
New seeds of contemplation is a good start to learn Thomas Merton
I am reading his diaries. Very good. I love this man.
There is only one thing needed. Read Thomas Merton's essay "Transcendent Experience" in his book ZEN AND THE BIRDS OF APPETITE
Thank you, just seen he wrote a book on Ghandi & his philosophy of active civil disobedience
I'm fortunate to live in the middle of "Merton country," Louisville, Ky. In my studies and activism, I have come to feel as though I am acquainted with Thomas Merton, or "Father Louis." I have been delighted to meet and talk with many people who knew Merton, shared ideas with him, and sometimes were baffled at how such a free thinker could submit to Cistercian censorship policies. The gifts, courage and mystery of Thomas Merton will always challenge and inspire me.
Why did they have censorship policies?
I am reading the new seeds of contemplation at the moment.
Wonderful -- enjoy New Seeds, an excellent book for sure!
Any good?!
I sent that book to Mother Dolores Hart. Thought she’d have time to read it being in a cloistered order.
Thank you for your direction.
Will definitely read 'the Franciscan Heart of Monastic Vision', thank you
A friend told me about Thomas Merton. This video is the first thing I have heard on him, thank you! I will pursue his writings.
Wonderful -- glad this is helpful!
Thank you I just heard about Thomas Merton Small world..
Thanks for your video! It gave me some new ideas on books to read, especially Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Thomas Merton and the Monastic Vision and your book.
Thank you. Have just come across Merton.
Thank you for your video and your book. The world needs to be reintroduced to Merton. He is as relevant today as he was in his lifetime.
Thank you Dan for a great overview.
What a great video! Thank you so much, hermano! God bless!
Paz y Bien. Saludos desde el Santuario de san Pedro de Alcántara, en Arenas de san Pedro (Ávila) España. Me alegra saber que siguen estudiando y hablando sobre Thomas Merton. Sin duda, un místico principal en el siglo XX.
I wonder if Merton would have been interested in the movie Mystic Pizza if he had lived. Any thoughts?
Hi Daniel, Many thanks for your suggestions and tips. I'm relatively new to Thomas Merton and have been reading his journals and some other books, but welcome your suggestions and I'll certainly check out your own book. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing
Here was my pathway: A piece in Time Magazine on the 50th anniversary of Merton's death and the publication of the 50th ann. edition of the Seven Story Mountain; then the Seven Story Mountain; then, all of Merton's published journals; then Contemplation In A World of Action. And then, a great deal of everything else. Feels now like a journey of a lifetime.
New seeds of contemplation is amazing. Chapter 5 will change your life if you are on the journey to enlightenment; if not it could very well set you on the path. I disagree brother Daniel with you that seven story mountain is hard to read. It is long yes, but I looked forward to curling up with his story every night because his style has the strange quality that even as he narrates his journey he makes it feel like he is experiencing it for the first time too. Hard to explain but incredibly charming and full of hope.
How’s the enlightenment coming along?
Why did the bigwigs censor what Merton wanted people to know? Any thoughts?
You Tube vids on R.Rohr and M.Fox mention Thomas Merton so I went to iTunes and bought some of his books and audiobooks. But the collections were vast and varied. So I Googled "where to begin with Thomas Merton" and it referenced and linked this You Tube vid.
So let me take a few seconds of your time (Fr.D.P Horan) to say "thank you" for your recommendations. I recognise your suggestions from the covers and titles presented at iTunes online store.
And may I also add my love for you.
For I easily feel love for people at first glance. This happens easily for me for One lives in me who loves all, evermore. My emotions wain and wax and my thoughts endlessly flutter about, but there is a constant love within me that cries out, or, whispers softly "love everyone - for that is what pleases God most".
So Sir "I love you". That is my worship of God - for the God I know has made God's self know to me as the Parent of Jesus Christ and their love for one another "The Holy Spirit". May you experience that love as you read this Father. May you let go of ego and delusion and accept how beautiful and wonderful you are for God made you so - and God delights in you and cherishes you so. I believe this to be true because it manifests it's love through me and in me and i experience you as a loved member of my family.
And I look forward to knowing you better, and more completely, in Eternity, in the divine vastness of infinite and eternal choices and gifts............................ for I experience it now as a present moment - but this is only a foggy glimpse at best. For God is in you. and God is in me, and in our togetherness we experience God evermore.
May God be with you Father......... blessings from Perth Western Australia - st alex :)
Zen and the birds. Very very unique. It's an effort of a thousand years.
Gracias por todas las recomendaciones, pude ver el vídeo con el traductor de google. Me encantaría poder conseguir su libro en Argentina y en español. Ojala algún día se conceda tal gracia. Saludos Paz y bien
I often view "Conjectures" as one of the first blogs, or twitter feeds. The ideas are quick, relevant, and on point. But, let's not forget the difficulties he faced when he wrote too much. Which is often overlooked.
A very very special personality searching and helping us to find out GOD !
VERY nice synopsis of Thomas Merton! A compact intro such as you shared is very difficult to pull off because, as you know, Merton's writings span a broad spectrum. I remember that his Sign of Jonas was the first book that I had ever read outside of required texts in high school. Needless to say his books changed my life. Since that time I have never gotten over the desire to be a monk. Of course God had different plans for my life, but I have always considered myself to be a Secular Monastic. Thank you again for your book and this vlog. Pax et bonum!
Captain vantastic.
Thank you very much for all your information. I just found out about a 2015 translation into Dutch of "New seeds of contemplation" ("Zaden van contemplatie"). You brought me closer to go and buy this book!
"The Seven Storey Mountain" is best voewed through the lens that Merton tried to distance himself from the book and downplay it in later years.
He understood that it was lacking, immature in places, and he changed his stance on many things in his later works.
It was his first book published. His later works are where his ideas and insights have the most body and profundity.
And as far as the racism and social activist works go... Following all the intersectionality fallout in recent years, such agendas have become increasingly inverted and weaponised.
We went from one extreme to the other via "PC Culture" and censorship.
The concerns about "systemic recism" today resulted in some heinous crimes not being pursued in the UK out of fears in local councils and police departments not wanting to "appear as racist".
Look at the powder keg that the UK has become due to this with the riots in 2024.
I'm not seeing the peaceful world that Merton, Ram Dass, Ginsberg, Leary, Huxley et al envisioned. If anything the result of their combined effect has lit society on fire to such a degree that the remedy eludes even our best thinkers today.
Forced supression and coerced controls to meet ideological views always meets with it's inevitable counter-swing.
His ideas were needed in the 40's and 50's on cultural revolution. Today the problem is far more nuanced and distorted due to Marxist lexicons of intersectionality politics that took the aims of cultural integration and peace, then inverted them into something to be weaponised as a seed of division and authoritatian control.
Thankyou
Thomas Merton A Book of Hours. Great for prayer
"Raids on the Unspeakable" contains a powerful essay on the Eichmann Trial.. Before the trial began psychiatrists were consulted by the Israeli court and found Eichmann fit to stand trial in that he met the legal requirement of knowing right from wrong. What concerned Merton was that Eichmann, who had been the officer charged with bringing about the "Final Solution" didn't or couldn't imagine the misery he was inflicting on millions of people. In Merton's view, such a person, who might be called well adjusted, showed a disturbing possibility of adjusting himself to hell.
Paz y Bien
"Writing in the 1940s" aka you have to think. I love Merton.
@@willchristie2650 I read the book. It's perfectly accessible and fresh. I don't know what he's talking about.
Hi Fr. Horan thanks for this video. I want to learn about him but was afraid he'd be too high falutin' for me. I attended two of your lectures at the RECongress last year. I pray that all is well with you. :)
That was very nice, thank you x
Very nice. But how could he have omitted The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott? Otherwise very interesting and well presented.
The Postmaster is within you who delivers the Little YOU 'I' to the Extraordinary YOUR SELF 'I AM'
The ones who know the true meaning of 'I' AND 'I AM' within THEMSELVES are the ONES who are closer to GOD
did you hear about the guy that met him but didnt know it was him, prettty epic
No, what's the story?
Yeah, what’s the story? It’s been 4 years. Out with it!
Did he speak of how we might deal with are own demons and temptations
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Journal # 6 is very troubling. Why was it ever allowed to be published?
Never read #6. What did it reveal that was so troubling?
He put the stipulation on publishing his journals. They had to wait a certain number of years after his death, 25 if I remember correctly? Journal 6 is the one that contains references to his relationship with M. Is that what you find troubling?
no man is an island ???
Merton is great
And his relationship with the Dal Lama
😇🙏❤👍
Voice
I find it hard to believe that there is a caring, loving god.
When something comes out of the beasts mouth.... forget about it.
Look up Thomas Morton instead 😁
It would seem odd to me if he actually used the term *people of color*.
And his relationship with the Dalai Lama
Thomas Merton really stood for Vatican 2 the world is the kingdom of God the Catholic Church and the religions of the world and we are all one in God therefore evangelisation is irrelevant were all going to heaven because there is no Hell.
Thomas Merton imbibed eastern mysticism into his Catholic thinking and so has the modern church always evolving always changing, making it easier for other religions to accept.
Gone has the dogma there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church.
If this far left, dissident “priest” is recommending Merton’s works, it’s an indication to stay far, far away from them. Other than Merton’s first book which Archbishop Sheen actually liked, I’d be wary of anything else he did-especially if Horan endorses it.
ChrisB176 who appointed you as a judge of Merton’s work? Do you speak for the Magisterium? I don’t think so. What lofty spiritual heights have you attained that allow you to judge this priest? Looks to me that you are guided by your own inflated ego, not spirituality.
Perhaps you would feel more at home at a Trump rally than criticizing the spiritual
Genius of Thomas Merton.
I don’t know anything about this priest so I can’t address that, but don’t you think it is possibly myopic of you to dismiss such a vast mind on the opinion of one reader? I am not far left, or left by any means. Yet, Merton is who first made me aware of Catholicism in any real way. Before him, I dismissed Catholics as superstitiously inclined. Like you, my ego got in the way for a lot of years.
Go do your research. It’s not wise to make negative comments when you have no idea of his background. Go search before you talk.
Don’t drive angry folks.
Great monk. He could have become enlightened in this life if he went beyond christianity.
According to Fr. John Hardon he was not a good teacher not even intellectually fully Catholic. Case closed.
Paul I know, Father Merton I know but Fr. Hardon? Why should I listen to him when I have read Merton for myself.
Priests shouldn't be preaching politics. Stick to the word, not the world.
Unfortunately Thomas Merton was very confused. He dabbled a lot in Buddhism, it's unfortunate that so many are so confused on this subject including Pope Francis. Go to spirituadirection.com and look up Thomas Merton for the truth on this poor confused man.
He studied Buddhism. He was thoroughly Catholic. Read Man of Dialogue.
@joshuaslusher3721 Go look up Fr. Richard Rohr, that's where it leads to, an absolute heretic, I am well studied on this topic, and centering prayer isn't Catholic, they are absolutely in error.
@@mikeDeSales943 And Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth, said Moses. I am quite well informed but always willing to learn. Father Louis, as far as I am aware (and I have made my way through nearly his entire corpus) never said anything about centering prayer. How do you define centering prayer? They are two different people. The Church has not condemned Fr. Rohr as a heretic and so I will reserved judgement, it is the Lord's anyway. I encourage you to be a bit more open, there are many spiritualities within Catholicism that differ greatly and yet are all orthodox. Just because somebody does not fit your narrow Neo-scholastic box does not make them a heretic. Blessings!
@joshuaslusher3721 Are you aware of the Doctors of the Church? And should I listen to these people, or the Doctors of the Church. One of my favorites is St. Francis DeSales.
@@mikeDeSales943 I am aware of the Doctors of the Church. My favorite is St. Therese. Why can we not listen to both? Thomas Merton is certainly not at odds with the Doctors. Read Doctor Mellifluus by Pius XII and Merton's commentary on it, he also loves The Little Flower. St. Therese, I would recommend reading C'est la confiance by the Holy Father. St. Francis de Sales, Totum Amoris Est. St. Jerome, Scripturae Sacrae affectus. Blessings!
Where: nowhere. The church doesn't need Merton, no need for an orientalist which had an affair with his nurse in a monastery.
We need Merton, especially in America, today more than ever. Father Louis; pray for us!
Why are you wearing this Christian monk uniform?? That is very deceitful
Can you explain how this is deceitful?
Yes! Father Doran has earned the right to wear the Christian spiritual clothing.
I prefer jeans and a T-shirt, but everyone has a right to wear what they want. I just hope the cloth isn’t itchy.